The overall objective of the project is to evaluate the development of communicative competence in profoundly deaf children in formal and informal settings and to compare their performances with hearing children engaged in similar tasks. Training studies in referential communication are proposed which are likely to shed light on problem areas of deaf children's functioning which may be improved by supervised practice. Special attention will be given to listener competence in referential communication and to the contribution that listerners may make to a successful communication when the messageis ambiguous.